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  <div class="section" id="module-email.mime">
<h1>19.1.4. <a title="Package supporting the parsing, manipulating, and generating email messages, including MIME documents." class="reference external" href="email.html#module-email"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">email</span></tt></a>: Creating email and MIME objects from scratch<a class="headerlink" href="#module-email.mime" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
<p>Ordinarily, you get a message object structure by passing a file or some text to
a parser, which parses the text and returns the root message object.  However
you can also build a complete message structure from scratch, or even individual
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">Message</span></tt> objects by hand.  In fact, you can also take an existing
structure and add new <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">Message</span></tt> objects, move them around, etc.  This
makes a very convenient interface for slicing-and-dicing MIME messages.</p>
<p>You can create a new object structure by creating <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">Message</span></tt> instances,
adding attachments and all the appropriate headers manually.  For MIME messages
though, the <a title="Package supporting the parsing, manipulating, and generating email messages, including MIME documents." class="reference external" href="email.html#module-email"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">email</span></tt></a> package provides some convenient subclasses to make
things easier.</p>
<p>Here are the classes:</p>
<dl class="class">
<dt id="email.mime.base.MIMEBase">
<em class="property">
class </em><tt class="descclassname">email.mime.base.</tt><tt class="descname">MIMEBase</tt><big>(</big><em>_maintype</em>, <em>_subtype</em>, <em>**_params</em><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#email.mime.base.MIMEBase" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Module: <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">email.mime.base</span></tt></p>
<p>This is the base class for all the MIME-specific subclasses of <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">Message</span></tt>.
Ordinarily you won&#8217;t create instances specifically of <a title="email.mime.base.MIMEBase" class="reference internal" href="#email.mime.base.MIMEBase"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">MIMEBase</span></tt></a>,
although you could.  <a title="email.mime.base.MIMEBase" class="reference internal" href="#email.mime.base.MIMEBase"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">MIMEBase</span></tt></a> is provided primarily as a convenient
base class for more specific MIME-aware subclasses.</p>
<p><em>_maintype</em> is the <em>Content-Type</em> major type (e.g. <em>text</em>
or <em>image</em>), and <em>_subtype</em> is the <em>Content-Type</em> minor
type  (e.g. <em>plain</em> or <em>gif</em>).  <em>_params</em> is a parameter
key/value dictionary and is passed directly to <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">Message.add_header()</span></tt>.</p>
<p>The <a title="email.mime.base.MIMEBase" class="reference internal" href="#email.mime.base.MIMEBase"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">MIMEBase</span></tt></a> class always adds a <em>Content-Type</em> header
(based on <em>_maintype</em>, <em>_subtype</em>, and <em>_params</em>), and a
<em>MIME-Version</em> header (always set to <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">1.0</span></tt>).</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="class">
<dt id="email.mime.nonmultipart.MIMENonMultipart">
<em class="property">
class </em><tt class="descclassname">email.mime.nonmultipart.</tt><tt class="descname">MIMENonMultipart</tt><a class="headerlink" href="#email.mime.nonmultipart.MIMENonMultipart" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Module: <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">email.mime.nonmultipart</span></tt></p>
<p>A subclass of <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">MIMEBase</span></tt>, this is an intermediate base class for MIME
messages that are not <em>multipart</em>.  The primary purpose of this class
is to prevent the use of the <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">attach()</span></tt> method, which only makes sense for
<em>multipart</em> messages.  If <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">attach()</span></tt> is called, a
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">MultipartConversionError</span></tt> exception is raised.</p>
<p>
<span class="versionmodified">New in version 2.2.2.</span></p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="class">
<dt id="email.mime.multipart.MIMEMultipart">
<em class="property">
class </em><tt class="descclassname">email.mime.multipart.</tt><tt class="descname">MIMEMultipart</tt><big>(</big><span class="optional">[</span><em>_subtype</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>boundary</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>_subparts</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>_params</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#email.mime.multipart.MIMEMultipart" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Module: <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">email.mime.multipart</span></tt></p>
<p>A subclass of <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">MIMEBase</span></tt>, this is an intermediate base class for MIME
messages that are <em>multipart</em>.  Optional <em>_subtype</em> defaults to
<em>mixed</em>, but can be used to specify the subtype of the message.  A
<em>Content-Type</em> header of <em>multipart/_subtype</em> will be
added to the message object.  A <em>MIME-Version</em> header will also be
added.</p>
<p>Optional <em>boundary</em> is the multipart boundary string.  When <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">None</span></tt> (the
default), the boundary is calculated when needed.</p>
<p><em>_subparts</em> is a sequence of initial subparts for the payload.  It must be
possible to convert this sequence to a list.  You can always attach new subparts
to the message by using the <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">Message.attach()</span></tt> method.</p>
<p>Additional parameters for the <em>Content-Type</em> header are taken from
the keyword arguments, or passed into the <em>_params</em> argument, which is a keyword
dictionary.</p>
<p>
<span class="versionmodified">New in version 2.2.2.</span></p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="class">
<dt id="email.mime.application.MIMEApplication">
<em class="property">
class </em><tt class="descclassname">email.mime.application.</tt><tt class="descname">MIMEApplication</tt><big>(</big><em>_data</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>_subtype</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>_encoder</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>**_params</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#email.mime.application.MIMEApplication" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Module: <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">email.mime.application</span></tt></p>
<p>A subclass of <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">MIMENonMultipart</span></tt>, the <a title="email.mime.application.MIMEApplication" class="reference internal" href="#email.mime.application.MIMEApplication"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">MIMEApplication</span></tt></a> class is
used to represent MIME message objects of major type <em>application</em>.
<em>_data</em> is a string containing the raw byte data.  Optional <em>_subtype</em> specifies
the MIME subtype and defaults to <em>octet-stream</em>.</p>
<p>Optional <em>_encoder</em> is a callable (i.e. function) which will perform the actual
encoding of the data for transport.  This callable takes one argument, which is
the <a title="email.mime.application.MIMEApplication" class="reference internal" href="#email.mime.application.MIMEApplication"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">MIMEApplication</span></tt></a> instance. It should use <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">get_payload()</span></tt> and
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">set_payload()</span></tt> to change the payload to encoded form.  It should also add
any <em>Content-Transfer-Encoding</em> or other headers to the message
object as necessary.  The default encoding is base64.  See the
<a title="Encoders for email message payloads." class="reference external" href="email.encoders.html#module-email.encoders"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">email.encoders</span></tt></a> module for a list of the built-in encoders.</p>
<p><em>_params</em> are passed straight through to the base class constructor.</p>
<p>
<span class="versionmodified">New in version 2.5.</span></p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="class">
<dt id="email.mime.audio.MIMEAudio">
<em class="property">
class </em><tt class="descclassname">email.mime.audio.</tt><tt class="descname">MIMEAudio</tt><big>(</big><em>_audiodata</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>_subtype</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>_encoder</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>**_params</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#email.mime.audio.MIMEAudio" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Module: <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">email.mime.audio</span></tt></p>
<p>A subclass of <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">MIMENonMultipart</span></tt>, the <a title="email.mime.audio.MIMEAudio" class="reference internal" href="#email.mime.audio.MIMEAudio"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">MIMEAudio</span></tt></a> class is used to
create MIME message objects of major type <em>audio</em>. <em>_audiodata</em> is a
string containing the raw audio data.  If this data can be decoded by the
standard Python module <a title="Determine type of a sound file." class="reference external" href="sndhdr.html#module-sndhdr"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">sndhdr</span></tt></a>, then the subtype will be automatically
included in the <em>Content-Type</em> header.  Otherwise you can explicitly
specify the audio subtype via the <em>_subtype</em> parameter.  If the minor type could
not be guessed and <em>_subtype</em> was not given, then <a title="exceptions.TypeError" class="reference external" href="exceptions.html#exceptions.TypeError"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">TypeError</span></tt></a> is raised.</p>
<p>Optional <em>_encoder</em> is a callable (i.e. function) which will perform the actual
encoding of the audio data for transport.  This callable takes one argument,
which is the <a title="email.mime.audio.MIMEAudio" class="reference internal" href="#email.mime.audio.MIMEAudio"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">MIMEAudio</span></tt></a> instance. It should use <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">get_payload()</span></tt> and
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">set_payload()</span></tt> to change the payload to encoded form.  It should also add
any <em>Content-Transfer-Encoding</em> or other headers to the message
object as necessary.  The default encoding is base64.  See the
<a title="Encoders for email message payloads." class="reference external" href="email.encoders.html#module-email.encoders"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">email.encoders</span></tt></a> module for a list of the built-in encoders.</p>
<p><em>_params</em> are passed straight through to the base class constructor.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="class">
<dt id="email.mime.image.MIMEImage">
<em class="property">
class </em><tt class="descclassname">email.mime.image.</tt><tt class="descname">MIMEImage</tt><big>(</big><em>_imagedata</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>_subtype</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>_encoder</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>**_params</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#email.mime.image.MIMEImage" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Module: <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">email.mime.image</span></tt></p>
<p>A subclass of <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">MIMENonMultipart</span></tt>, the <a title="email.mime.image.MIMEImage" class="reference internal" href="#email.mime.image.MIMEImage"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">MIMEImage</span></tt></a> class is used to
create MIME message objects of major type <em>image</em>. <em>_imagedata</em> is a
string containing the raw image data.  If this data can be decoded by the
standard Python module <a title="Determine the type of image contained in a file or byte stream." class="reference external" href="imghdr.html#module-imghdr"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">imghdr</span></tt></a>, then the subtype will be automatically
included in the <em>Content-Type</em> header.  Otherwise you can explicitly
specify the image subtype via the <em>_subtype</em> parameter.  If the minor type could
not be guessed and <em>_subtype</em> was not given, then <a title="exceptions.TypeError" class="reference external" href="exceptions.html#exceptions.TypeError"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">TypeError</span></tt></a> is raised.</p>
<p>Optional <em>_encoder</em> is a callable (i.e. function) which will perform the actual
encoding of the image data for transport.  This callable takes one argument,
which is the <a title="email.mime.image.MIMEImage" class="reference internal" href="#email.mime.image.MIMEImage"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">MIMEImage</span></tt></a> instance. It should use <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">get_payload()</span></tt> and
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">set_payload()</span></tt> to change the payload to encoded form.  It should also add
any <em>Content-Transfer-Encoding</em> or other headers to the message
object as necessary.  The default encoding is base64.  See the
<a title="Encoders for email message payloads." class="reference external" href="email.encoders.html#module-email.encoders"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">email.encoders</span></tt></a> module for a list of the built-in encoders.</p>
<p><em>_params</em> are passed straight through to the <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">MIMEBase</span></tt> constructor.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="class">
<dt id="email.mime.message.MIMEMessage">
<em class="property">
class </em><tt class="descclassname">email.mime.message.</tt><tt class="descname">MIMEMessage</tt><big>(</big><em>_msg</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>_subtype</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#email.mime.message.MIMEMessage" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Module: <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">email.mime.message</span></tt></p>
<p>A subclass of <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">MIMENonMultipart</span></tt>, the <a title="email.mime.message.MIMEMessage" class="reference internal" href="#email.mime.message.MIMEMessage"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">MIMEMessage</span></tt></a> class is used
to create MIME objects of main type <em>message</em>. <em>_msg</em> is used as the
payload, and must be an instance of class <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">Message</span></tt> (or a subclass
thereof), otherwise a <a title="exceptions.TypeError" class="reference external" href="exceptions.html#exceptions.TypeError"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">TypeError</span></tt></a> is raised.</p>
<p>Optional <em>_subtype</em> sets the subtype of the message; it defaults to
<em>rfc822</em>.</p>
</dd></dl>

<dl class="class">
<dt id="email.mime.text.MIMEText">
<em class="property">
class </em><tt class="descclassname">email.mime.text.</tt><tt class="descname">MIMEText</tt><big>(</big><em>_text</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>_subtype</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>_charset</em><span class="optional">]</span><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#email.mime.text.MIMEText" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt>
<dd><p>Module: <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">email.mime.text</span></tt></p>
<p>A subclass of <tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">MIMENonMultipart</span></tt>, the <a title="email.mime.text.MIMEText" class="reference internal" href="#email.mime.text.MIMEText"><tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">MIMEText</span></tt></a> class is used to
create MIME objects of major type <em>text</em>. <em>_text</em> is the string for
the payload.  <em>_subtype</em> is the minor type and defaults to <em>plain</em>.
<em>_charset</em> is the character set of the text and is passed as a parameter to the
<tt class="xref docutils literal"><span class="pre">MIMENonMultipart</span></tt> constructor; it defaults to <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">us-ascii</span></tt>.  No guessing
or encoding is performed on the text data.</p>
<p>
<span class="versionmodified">Changed in version 2.4: </span>The previously deprecated <em>_encoding</em> argument has been removed.  Encoding
happens implicitly based on the <em>_charset</em> argument.</p>
</dd></dl>

</div>


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